Airplane Hijackings Kuwait

Hostages freed in Algiers from a hijacked Kuwait Airways jet arrived home Thursday to a tumultuous reception, but the whereabouts of the hijackers remains unclear. Western diplomatic sources said they have evidence that the hijackers had reached Beirut. Officials at Beirut International Airport denied that they landed there. Cheers of joy, white doves and an embrace from the Emir of Kuwait greeted the 29 freed hostages as they came home to a heroes' welcome.

Kuwait will execute hijackers who injure passengers or damage planes or airports in the future, Minister of State for Services Issa Mohammed al Mazidi said. He told the Al Watan newspaper that the planned new law will apply to all airliners using Kuwait's airport. Hijackers seized a Kuwaiti Boeing 747 last month and killed two Kuwaiti passengers at Larnaca Airport in Cyprus. The hijackers were allowed to go free after releasing their remaining hostages at Algiers airport.

Officials of the Algerian government boarded a hijacked Kuwait Airways jumbo jet three times Wednesday to talk in secret with the terrorists who control it and to try to negotiate an end to the nine-day ordeal that has cost the lives of two passengers so far. With no result evident from the talks, hopes were dampened that an agreement had been worked out with the hijackers, who are thought to be Lebanese Shia Muslims.

Deputy Secretary of State John C. Whitehead said Saturday he will strongly urge that hijackers of a Kuwaiti jet be brought to justice in a meeting with Algerian officials next week. Whitehead leaves Monday on a trip that includes stops in Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco and France. The United States criticized the deal last month in which Algeria allowed the hijackers, who killed two hostages, to leave the plane at Algiers.

Hijackers holding a Kuwaiti jumbo jet in remote northeastern Iran fired five warning shots at Iranian security personnel Thursday and demanded that the plane be refueled and the runway cleared for takeoff, Iranian news reports said. The official news agency IRNA said that authorities, who had ignored several previous requests for fuel in an effort to keep the plane from leaving, complied with the demand and ordered the Boeing 747 refueled.

A pledge by Kuwait to give "early release" to a handful of Shia Muslim prisoners persuaded the hijackers of a Kuwait Airways Boeing 747 to end their 15-day siege in Algiers on April 20, and free 31 remaining hostages, U.S. officials said Friday. However, the five or six prisoners in question, among 17 imprisoned in Kuwait for bomb attacks on the U.S. and French embassies in 1981, have not been released, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The hijackers of a Kuwait Airways jumbo jet ordered bread, cakes and Pepsi-Cola for dinner here Monday and settled in for another night aboard. "We want 100 pieces bread, 100 pieces Pepsi-Cola," the hijackers radioed to the control tower at Larnaca airport in southwest Cyprus. Then the hijackers reduced their demand to 50 Pepsis and added that they also wanted 50 cakes. The control tower responded by asking if they would also care for something more nourishing, such as cheese.

A hijacked Kuwaiti jumbo jet flew to Algeria early today after the terrorists who commandeered it eight days ago freed another 12 passengers in exchange for fuel at Larnaca airport. The giant blue-and-white Kuwait Airways jetliner, its departure delayed by last-minute technical difficulties with two of its engines, took off at 1:17 a.m., almost eight days to the hour after it was hijacked over the Arabian Sea by Shia Muslim extremists seeking the release of 17 fellow Shias jailed in Kuwait.

The hijackers holding a Kuwaiti jetliner at an airport in northeastern Iran released 32 more passengers early today but warned that the remaining hostages will be in "serious danger" if their demands are not met, the Iranian news agency IRNA reported. The release of the 32 left about 50 passengers and crew members on the plane, according to IRNA. The gunmen said Wednesday that they would order the plane to fly elsewhere if their demands were not met.

Two Kuwaiti hostages aboard a hijacked jumbo jet begged their government Friday to save their lives by giving in to the demands of the Arab terrorists, but there was no sign that the Kuwaiti government was going to do so. Nor was there any sign, after several rounds of negotiating, that Algerian officials had come any closer to persuading the hijackers to free the 31 remaining hostages.

A pledge by Kuwait to give "early release" to a handful of Shia Muslim prisoners persuaded the hijackers of a Kuwait Airways Boeing 747 to end their 15-day siege in Algiers on April 20, and free 31 remaining hostages, U.S. officials said Friday. However, the five or six prisoners in question, among 17 imprisoned in Kuwait for bomb attacks on the U.S. and French embassies in 1981, have not been released, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The Arab hijackers who held a Kuwait Airways jet for 16 days and killed two of its passengers have been traced to the stronghold of pro-Iranian extremists in Lebanon, diplomatic sources said Saturday. Arab and Western diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the hijackers were believed to have made their getaway in an Algerian air force plane via the Syrian capital of Damascus before dawn Wednesday.

Hostages freed in Algiers from a hijacked Kuwait Airways jet arrived home Thursday to a tumultuous reception, but the whereabouts of the hijackers remains unclear. Western diplomatic sources said they have evidence that the hijackers had reached Beirut. Officials at Beirut International Airport denied that they landed there. Cheers of joy, white doves and an embrace from the Emir of Kuwait greeted the 29 freed hostages as they came home to a heroes' welcome.

Algerian authorities drew a veil of secrecy around the whereabouts of the hijackers of a Kuwaiti airliner who surrendered early Wednesday after freeing their remaining hostages at the Algiers airport. However, it was clear from information provided by a number of sources that a secret deal had been arranged to give the hijackers safe passage out of Algeria, and some reports said they had already left.

Events in the hijacking of Kuwait Airways Flight 422: Tuesday, April 5--The Boeing 747 with 112 people aboard, including three members of the Kuwaiti royal family, is hijacked by Arabic-speaking gunmen on a flight to Kuwait from Bangkok, Thailand, and diverted to Mashhad in northeastern Iran. The hijackers demand freedom for 17 pro-Iranian extremists jailed in Kuwait for the 1983 bombings of the U.S. and French embassies. They threaten to blow up the plane if the demand is not met.

Muslim hijackers freed their hostages on a Kuwaiti jet today after saying that Algeria had offered a solution to the 16-day ordeal in which two people were killed and dozens terrorized. Algeria's Interior Minister, Hadi Khediri, said shortly before the 31 hostages began leaving the plane: "A solution settling all the issues of the hijacking has just been reached." Khediri said the blue and white Boeing 747 will be returned to Kuwait.

Muslim hijackers freed their hostages on a Kuwaiti jet today after saying that Algeria had offered a solution to the 16-day ordeal in which two people were killed and dozens terrorized. Algeria's Interior Minister, Hadi Khediri, said shortly before the 31 hostages began leaving the plane: "A solution settling all the issues of the hijacking has just been reached." Khediri said the blue and white Boeing 747 will be returned to Kuwait.

At least one hijacker boarded a commandeered Kuwaiti jumbo jet in Iran, bringing along explosives and machine guns, several of the hostages released from the plane in Cyprus said Wednesday. At the same time, Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman Yasser Arafat, who has been trying to secure the release of the remaining hostages, was quoted as accusing Iran of masterminding the nine-day hijacking.

Speaking in a hoarse and anguished whisper, a member of the Kuwaiti royal family appealed to Kuwait on Monday to meet the demands of the hijackers holding 31 hostages aboard a hijacked jumbo jet at the Algiers airport. The barely intelligible message, delivered by a hostage identified as Fadel al Sabah, a distant relative of the Emir of Kuwait, repeated the hijackers' demand for the release of 17 Shia Muslim terrorists imprisoned in Kuwait.

The hijackers of a Kuwaiti jumbo jet agreed Sunday to postpone their departure from Algiers to give Algerian officials more time to negotiate their demands with Kuwait. However, a tape-recorded message from one of the passengers said the 31 hostages on board the Kuwait Airways Boeing 747 would meet with a "black" end unless the Kuwaiti government met the hijackers' demand for the release of 17 Shia Muslim terrorists imprisoned in Kuwait.